Outgoing HSBC chairman advises successor not to be constrained by company traditions

HSBC’s outgoing chairman, Douglas Flint, has advised his successor to be respectful of the company’s traditions but not to be constrained by them, as the bank’s business has been “more agile and efficient” after years of restructuring.

Flint, who will step down by the end of this month after seven years at the helm, will be succeeded by AIA Group’s former chief executive Mark Tucker, reflecting the first time the post has gone to a candidate external to HSBC. One of Tucker’s first priorities will be to find a replacement for HSBC’s outgoing chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who planned to step down next year.

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Speaking on the sidelines of a trade symposium in London last week, Flint described HSBC as “an extraordinary organisation” and said “it has been the proudest moment” in his career to chair it.

Flint was trained as an accountant, and became HSBC’s group finance director in 1995.

During his 22 years at the bank, it has witnessed multiple crises including the Asian and Russian financial crises in the late 1990s, as well as the United States’ subprime mortgage crisis that broke out in 2007.

But Flint believes those storms had helped the bank to become “stronger and more resilient”.